Alright brethren, let's turn
our Bibles to 2 Kings 6. I want to begin reading in verse
8 and read over to verse 23. It says, Then the king of Syria,
this was an enemy king, he warred against Israel, and he took counsel
with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be
my camp. It's where I'm going to camp.
And the man of God, that's Elisha the prophet. He's a picture of
Christ. Elisha the prophet. The man of
God sent unto the king of Israel. He sent word to the king of Israel
saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place, for thither
the Syrians are come down. And the king of Israel sent to
the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and
saved himself there not once nor twice. Multiple times he
was saved because Elisha warned him, don't go there. It's a picture
of Christ directing his people. Therefore the heart of the king
of Syria was sore trouble for this thing. He called his servants,
he said to them, will you not show me which of us is for the
king of Israel? And one of his servants said,
none, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet that is in Israel
telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy
bedchamber." Christ knows the heart of every single sinner
in this world. He knows the heart and the secret. You speak in your bedchamber.
That's what we have pictured here. And he said, Go, spy where
he is, and I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses
and chariots and a great host. And they came by night and compassed
the city about. And now here is a picture of
us who believe on Christ. And when the servant of the man
of God, he was the servant of Elisha, picture of Christ's servant. He was risen early, gone forth,
behold a host compassed the city both with horses and chariots.
He walked out that morning, he looked up and there he is surrounded
with horses and chariots, king of Assyria. And his servant said
unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? And Elisha answered,
Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be
with them. And Elisha prayed, he interceded
to the Lord. Picture Christ interceding for
him. You see there, first he comforted his servant. Said to
him, Fear not, Christ is our prophet. He comforts us. And
then Elisha prayed, he interceded with the Lord for him. And he
said, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord
opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about
Elisha. And when they came down to him,
Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said, smite this people, I pray
thee, with blindness, And He smoked them with blindness according
to the word of Elisha. Our Lord Jesus is able to smite
the enemy with blindness. And look what He did. And Elisha
said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city.
Follow me, I will bring you to the man whom you seek. But He
led them to Samaria. He led them away from His people. And it came to pass when they
were coming to Samaria that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of
these men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes,
and they saw, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. And
the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My
father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? The king
of Israel said this to the prophet, My father, shall I smite them?
shall I smite them? And he answered, Thou shalt not
smite them. Willst thou smite those whom
thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Christ
is just. He's just. And look what he did. He said, Set bread and water
before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master. And he prepared great provision
for them. And when they had eaten and drunk,
he sent them away and they went to their master. And so the bands
of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. Our Lord Jesus
is able to blind his enemies, turn them from his people, and
provide them a full provision of earthly bread and water. So
they're content with what they have. And they go to their master
and they don't bother God's people. He's able to do that. You see
all this beautiful picture of Christ in this? Now notice the
place where this occurred. It says back up there in verse
13, it says, Behold, it was in Dothan. That means two wells
or a double feast. And what the enemy of God's people
means as a defeat and destruction of his people. Our Lord Jesus
Christ turns into a double feast for his child, a double blessing
from the wells of salvation. How so? Well, one, Christ proves
to us that He is our Prophet, Priest, and King. He proves to
us He is our Savior, our Defender, our Protector, our All. And at the same time that He
does this, He teaches us once again that faith is of Him, that
He increases it by this work, And he teaches us not to judge
by the seeing of the eye, the hearing of the ear. He gives
you spiritual discernment, true judgment, true judgment. Now, first of all, we see the
danger of natural sight, and we see the value of spiritual
sight, and we see that this spiritual sight is of God. Now the danger
of carnal sight. Now this servant of the man of
God, he's a picture of a believer, he rose up early and he went
forth and behold, verse 15 it says, and behold he saw this
host around the city, horses and chariots, and he was the
servant to Elisha. Now picture of a believer here.
Faithful servant, he rose up early, he's ready to serve the
Lord, do whatever whatever the Lord called him to do. He was
ready to do it, just like his people are. And he goes out and
he sees this big host of enemies around him. And his faith and his strength and
his zeal just went away. It all went away. And he cried
out in discouragement. He said, Alas, my master, how
shall we do? You can just imagine how you
would feel if you walked out and there's this enemy nation
around you, surrounded with all their army, ready to strike. And he didn't have any more zeal
to do what it was he set out to do. Natural sight sees the
danger, but it doesn't see the deliverer. Doesn't see the deliverer,
doesn't see the deliverance. Only sees what you see with these
eyes and only hears what you hear with these ears. But what appears to physical
sight as a total impossibility is God manifesting his great
ability. Whatever appears to us like it's
a total impossibility, God's ordained it to show His people
that He has full ability to save His people no matter what. Think
about it. Our Lord, it's like He stacked
the deck against Himself to show us this. He cast the devil One
of his created angels out of heaven with a third of the host
of the fallen angels, he cast them out into the earth to work
wickedness. He permitted them to enter the
garden and out of the sin and plunged the whole world into
sin. He gave 613 laws at Sinai. He allowed Israel to just come
into total bondage in the world to just be so corrupted until it was a point where it
was obvious man by his wisdom can't know God. Man by his wisdom
can't work out of righteousness. Man by his wisdom can't please
God. I mean it was obvious that we
were ruined. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
forth, made of woman, made under the law, not one law in a perfect
garden, all these laws in this sin-cursed earth with all this
host of enemies surrounding Him, and accomplished our redemption.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Anything too hard for the
Lord? We see our sin, and we see our
enemies, and we start to doubt, and unbelief causes us to fear. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
works things so many times this way to hedge us in to where there's
just no possibility for you to do anything to save yourself.
Look at the children of Israel at the Red Sea. He hedged them
in on all sides, with that and had Pharaoh's army barreling
down on them and there was nothing they could do. Nothing! And he put them there on purpose.
And then he told Moses, now you tell them, stand still. Don't
lift a finger and see the salvation of the Lord. And he saved them. And he saved them. He's constantly
He came to us like we were that impotent man on that porch and
couldn't do anything. And what did He do? Spoke. Made
you willing. You believed Him. Look over at
Deuteronomy 31. Here's a picture. Here's a beautiful
picture right here. Deuteronomy 31 and look at verse... You know Moses is a picture of
the law. He couldn't carry them to Canaan. Joshua is a picture
of Christ. He's the one that's going to
lead them into Canaan. But Moses, the law, bears witness of Christ.
And it says, Christ is the righteousness of God. Justice is satisfied.
And here's what the law says for us. This is one of the reasons
God's people delight in the law of God. This is what the law
says to us, and it's what the law says concerning Christ. He said in verse 3, Deuteronomy
31.3, the Lord thy God, he will go over before thee and he will
destroy these nations from before thee and thou shall possess them.
And Joshua, he shall go over before thee as the Lord had said.
You see Christ in that. The law says, Joshua is going
to deliver you. Jesus is going to deliver you.
The Lord Jesus is going to bring you into the promised land. He
said, look down at verse, Verse 6, Be strong and of a good
courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God,
He it is that doth go with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. This is Moses speaking, and this
is a picture of the law, what we hear the law say, because
Christ has satisfied justice for us. The Lord is going to,
be strong and of a good courage, fear not, don't be afraid, the
Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee. He will not fail
thee. Moses called Joshua. Now here's the law bearing witness
of Christ. And this is what he said to Joshua.
Be strong and of a good courage, for thou must go with this people
unto the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers, the
land He entered covenant to give. Thou shalt cause them to inherit
it. And the Lord, He it is that doth
go before thee, He will be with thee, He will not fail thee,
neither forsake thee, fear not, neither be dismayed. The law
shows us Christ who has satisfied it, and the law, when we see
the law and all its demands, by the Spirit of God, we hear
the law say of Christ. He must and He shall deliver
you. He satisfied justice. The covenant
of God is fulfilled. He must deliver His people into
the promised land. So fear not. He's going with
you. He will deliver you. Be of good
courage. And that's what He teaches us.
And that's the only way, brethren, that we're ever saved from unbelief. This is how He saved us when
He called us. And He keeps calling us with this message. And look
now at the value of faith. Back there in 2 Kings 6, we have a picture of Christ speaking
to us personally. Elisha answered and he said to
this servant, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than
they that be with them. Our Lord Jesus teaches us to
fear not. And He declares to us just what
Elisha declared to this young believer. He declares that the
unseen things, the things that only faith beholds,
He speaks of the unseen things, things only faith beholds. And
he says, they that be with us are more than they that be with
them. Now you think about this. Think
of how, I mean, put yourself in the place of this servant,
and if you walked out of that tent or whatever, wherever that
morning, and you looked up and you saw enemies surrounding you,
ready to kill you, that would be trouble, wouldn't it? That
would trouble you greatly. Here Elisha speaks to him about
something this boy couldn't see. But when he gets finished, he's
going to see that that trouble that he received in comparison
to what the Lord taught him was nothing. That's what Paul said,
our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for
us. It's God working for us. The
light affliction that seems like the enemies are surrounding us
and we're about to be destroyed. The light affliction worketh
for us. A far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory because by His grace He makes us look not at
the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. The only way we see God's glory
is by faith. Remember what the Lord told Martha,
if you believe, you'll see my glory. If you believe, you'll
see my glory. Hebrews 11 gives us a cloud of
those witnesses. Let's go look over there and
see them. Hebrews 11. We'll just read some of these.
Verse 7. By faith being warned of God
of things not seen as yet. Moved with fear, prepared an
ark to the saving of his house by the witch, condemned the world
and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith,
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should have to receive for an inheritance obeyed, he went out
not knowing whether he went. Didn't see it. Just went. Faith's
not a blind leap. Faith's not a blind leap. Faith's
trusting God. That's not a blind leap. You
can't do anything more secure than trust God. Look down at
verse 32. What shall I more say? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon, of Baruch, and of Samson, of Jephthah, of David
also, and Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of
the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in
flight, turn to flight the armies of the aliens. Who would have
thought that this 90-year-old woman named Sarah would have
produced a child, would have had a child. Well, she didn't
produce him, but would have had a child. But by faith, she believed
God. And she did. She did. God is
going to save us in a way that and always does it this way that
seems utterly impossible to you and me, is utterly impossible
to you and me. Because that's the only way we'll
trust him. If we can do one thing to save ourselves, if we can
fix it, we'll try to fix it. He's gonna make it where you
can't fix it. You can't. And he can. And he will. He'll bring all
hell against you. He'll wage war against you in
your own flesh and with the army surrounding you. And heads you
up to where you can't do anything but believe Him and trust Him.
Isn't that what we're trying to speak to one another? Believe
God, trust God. That's the goal, isn't it? Believe
God, trust Him. I believe He can work that in
His people. Can't you say this of yourself? If I still believe
the Lord, it's only by His grace. I can't. I don't have it in me. It's only by His grace. I see the enemies in the mountains
surrounding, when I just look at myself. Can you see that? Doesn't He save us against all
possibility of salvation from our own self? That's how He does
it. Now look at Elisha here as a
fellow believer. We see that when God gives faith,
were able to comfort our fearful brethren as Elisha comforted
this young believer. This young believer was terrified. He was terrified at what he saw. And Elisha, he didn't say, get
in there and get your sword. He didn't say, you know, none
of these carnal things. Here's what he said to him, fear
not. They that be with us are more
than they that be with them. Do you believe that, child of
God? That's so for all his people, for you and I sitting here. They
that be with us are more than are with the enemies of God.
Elisha's confidence was the same as the Apostle John. He said,
you're of God, little children, greater and have overcome the
enemy because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the
world. You're of God, little children. He didn't make this boy feel ashamed that he didn't have faith. He didn't make him ashamed for
it. Unbelief, that's the worst sin there is, isn't it? And he
didn't make him ashamed for it. What'd he do? Turned him back
to the Lord and said, just like John said, you're of God, little
children. What a great combination, is it not? Almighty God, our
Father, and little children. Weak little children. You're of God, chosen of God
the Father in Christ unto salvation, and you have already overcome
all the enemies by Christ Jesus. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
crying to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. to the young believer's physical
sight, it looked like God's people were sheep ready for the slaughter.
Fish in a barrel. In all these things, we're counted
as sheep for the slaughter. Faith said, nope. In all these
things, we're more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Our
consolation is that all the enemies of God's people are God's enemies. They're doing His bidding. Why
was these enemies there? Why was the King of Syria surrounding
them? God sent them there to teach us, sitting right here
today, this lesson. To teach that young man that
lesson, and to teach you and I this lesson. Fear not. Fear
not man, fear not carnal weapons, fear not the slanderer, the accuser,
the sinner, yourself, or any other. Fear God. What time I'm afraid, I will
trust in Thee. In God I'll praise His Word.
In God I'll put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me." Does that count our own? It counts our own. We don't underestimate the power
of the devil. We don't underestimate sin. We don't underestimate this
world. But our Redeemer is greater than
all, brethren. What do we see Thursday night?
Sanctify the Lord of Hosts. Regard Him as being the greatest,
the Savior, the Redeemer, the conquering, conquering King. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts. Let
Him be your fear. Let Him be your dread. And He'll be for sanctuary. But
He'll be for a rock of stumbling to the enemy. God's provided His elect righteousness
in Christ His Son, and Christ has delivered us from the power
of sin, Satan, death, judgment, and hell. It's done. What about my sin? What about
my sin? You sinned any sin today that,
if you had any thoughts today that were sinful, have you had
them before? Just stop having them. I had a brother one time that
was in a terrible, terrible, terrible affliction. And another
brother came up to him, and I'm not speaking in light of this
brother because this was a needful thing for him and for my elder
friend. But he was going through this
terrible, terrible thing and this believer came up to him
and said, just don't think about it. And he didn't mean any harm by
that statement, but it was just such a cold, callous thing to
say, don't think about it. And years later, the Lord brought
that brother into the exact same trial, I mean the exact same
affliction. Why? To teach us. That's why he does these things,
to teach us. makes you love deeper and sweeter,
and relish forgiveness, and relish mercy, and relish patience, and
temperance, and all the fruit of the Spirit. He makes you relish His restraining
hand, makes you relish His power to keep speaking into your heart,
and when you look at yourself and you just start Wilton, because
you see the enemies surrounding you, to say, fear not, more with
us than there are with your enemies. We need brethren, but when we're
the unbelieving, fearful child, God always provides a brother
who sees strength and in faith to remind us, fear not, there's
more with us than there are with them, fear not. When Haman and
Moab came up against Judah, Jehoshaphat strengthened his brethren, just
like Elisha was doing. You can find it over in 2 Chronicles
20, verse 15. He spoke to them, Jehoshaphat
said, Hearken ye all Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and thou King Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you,
this was the prophet speaking, Be not afraid nor dismayed by
reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours,
but God's. That's why he brings us to these mountains that we
can't move. To teach us the battle's not
yours, it's God's. It always is. It always is. You want to fight the fight of
faith? You want to fight the fight of faith? He said, it's
not you, because if you just have faith the size of a grain
of mustard seed, that mountain will be cast into the sea. Who's
going to do that? He said, I'll make the mountains
a plain. Not by might, not by power, by
my spirit, saith the Lord. And he's so gracious to us to
say, if you just have faith as a little grain of mustard seed,
I'll do all the rest. You just believe me. I got it.
I'm going to do it. That's telling us, brethren,
the power is not us fighting the fight. Faith is trusting
that the battle's not mine, it's his. He got it. And it says, he told them, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord with you. Fear not,
don't be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them
for the Lord will be with you. And then in verse 20, they rose
early, they went forth in the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they
went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and
ye inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God.
Believe in the Lord your God. So shall you be established.
Believe His prophets, so shall you prosper. And not only did
God give them that victory, just like He said He would, they were
three days collecting the spoils of riches and jewelry from the
enemy. He enriched them. And is that
not what Christ did for us? He said, stand still, look to
the cross, and see the battle's not yours, it's the Lord's. And
we're still reaping the spoils of His victory. And going to
reap them for eternity. So David says, God's our refuge. He's our strength. He's a very
present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
Now we depend on God to give us this. The Lord, Elisha, prayed. We depend on Christ to intercede
for us. He said, Lord, I pray that you
open His eyes that He may see. Christ prays to the Father and
the Father sends the Spirit to us. He draws us to pray to Him,
ask Him. Open thou mine eyes that I may
behold wondrous things out of thy Word. Moses said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. And Christ intercedes for us.
And Christ came to give sight to the blind. And when He's given
us sight, because He's given us sight, and we've experienced
it, without being born again, we can't see the Kingdom of God.
Because we know it's by Him that we see. We're not presumptuous.
So that we say, well, I see. That's what the Pharisees did.
Are we blind? You saying we're blind? He said, if you'd have
been blind, you'd have been given sight. But you say you see, so
now you're blind. Left and you're blind. God's
people know, I need Him to constantly save me from my unbelief. I need
Him to constantly give me faith to behold Him and know nothing's
changed. And so we pray, Lord, I believe,
help thou my unbelief. Help my unbelief. And by His grace, the Lord opens
our eyes. He said there in verse 2 Kings
6, 17, And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he
saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots
of fire rounded about. God opens our eyes to see Christ
coming forth on His white horse of providence with a sharp two-edged
sword going out of His mouth with a host of heavenly angels,
and He makes you see by faith. You hear this word and you know
He's got you surrounded, protected. Christ is our refuge, He is our
stronghold, all His chariots of fire round about. He said,
Behold, I have graven you upon the palms of My hands, thy walls
are continually before Me. Violence shall no more be heard
in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, but thou
shalt call thy walls, capital S, Salvation, and capital P,
Praise. That's the walls that surround
us, that's Christ. What should we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? That's what
we say to these things. And when he does this, David
prayed sometimes, he didn't have sight, and he prayed, Lord, please,
please speak to me. Restore the joy of your salvation. Heal these bones you've broken.
Don't let the heavens be brass to me. But then when the Lord
did it, He said, He restoreth my soul. He leads me in paths
of righteousness for His name's sake. He led me right through
this path for His name's sake. Make me see Him. I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, but though I do, I will not fear
any evil. Thou art with me. Thy rod and
thy staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemy. You anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over all the time. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever." You can't describe the riches of
being able to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, can you? You can be pining away, looking
at your situation and think, I'm in desperate poverty and
have no way of getting out of it. And when you behold Christ
and see His unsearchable riches that He is, you say, what poverty? What poverty? You can be so cast
down and just unable to rejoice. And when He speaks, you just
can't help but rejoice when He gives you faith to see Him. You
sit in there and you say, this is an impossibility. I can't
do anything. I can't do this. And when He's
brought you there, He speaks and He makes you behold Him so
that you can say, but with Christ, all things are possible. I can
do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Our seasons of unbelief don't
change God's grace. Not for a child of God, thankfully. Our sins don't change His grace. Whether we stand or we fall,
it doesn't change His grace toward us. His love is everlasting love.
Hagar couldn't see the well. When she was cast out with Ishmael,
she couldn't see the well, but the well was there the whole
time. The Lord just had to show her where it was. And that's
the same with us. The well's there. It hadn't changed. He just has to turn us and give
us eyes to come to that well of salvation and get that double
blessing from Him. He shows you, He's your deliverer,
and He grows you in faith to know. I had no reason to doubt. I pray you bless that. Thank you.